Authors

Roman

Phaedrus

Phaedrus was a Macedonian-born freed slave of the household of Augustus who versified Aesop's fables in Latin iambic verse, creating the primary conduit through which the Aesopian tradition reached medieval Europe and thence La Fontaine and the modern fable tradition. His five books contain both Aesopic originals and his own additions, including social commentary on the position of freed slaves that gives his work a personal dimension absent from other ancient fabulists.